Official Stresses Syria’s Ability to Repel Foreign Attack

A senior Iranian foreign ministry official dismissed the possibility of a foreign military intervention in Syria, and stressed that the Syrian army is capable of defending the country.

“In case of foreign military attack on Syria, the Syrian army can defend the country because Syria is in the front line of resistance against foreign aggressors,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian told reporters on Thursday evening.

He, however, noted that the crisis in Syria can only be resolved through diplomatic means.

“Some of the opposition forces inside Syria were expecting the collapse of the capital Damascus, but we will surely witness the return of peace and stability to Aleppo and other Syrian cities in the coming days,” the Iranian diplomat noted.

Meantime, Tehran hosted an international consultative conference on the developments in Syria on Thursday.

Representatives of 27 world and regional states as well as the UN envoy to Tehran participated in the conference.

At the beginning of the Tehran conference on Syria, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi addressed the audience on Iran’s position and policies to settle the crisis in the Arab country.

He underscored that the settlement of the crisis in Syria needs serious and comprehensive talks between the Syrian government and the opposition groups.

“We need serious and comprehensive talks between the opposition (forces) who have a position among people and the Syrian government in a background of tranquility and stability to settle the crisis in Syria,” Salehi said.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

In October, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of stirring unrests in Syria once again.

The Zionist regime along with the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar have been supporting terrorists and rebel groups in Syria and have practically brought a UN peace initiative into failure to bring President Assad’s government into collapse.